Topic: health care

Recently, Gov. Jay Inslee proposed two new bills pushing for health-care cost transparency [“Make medical providers compete on price as well as quality,” Opinion, Feb. 6]. HB 1437 and SB 5084 would create an all-payer claims database that provides public access to cost and quality information about health-care providers and services. This means…

Those who are saying that the midterm election results are some sort of mandate as to what to do, or not to do, about immigration and affordable health care are ignoring the fact that there was only about a 36 percent turnout of eligible voters [“Obama is being hypocritical,” Northwest Voices, Nov. 22]. Our…

I think the latest round of Republican theatrics in Congress (suing the president) demonstrates a real lack of vision for the people of this country [“House GOP sues Obama administration on health law,” Nation & World, Nov. 21]. Throwing mud and sand at the president and all his ideas is not really a viable…

Guest columnist Karin Huster wrote of the “flawless handling thus far of the latest case of Ebola in New York” [“Don’t let fear drive Ebola response,” Opinion, Nov. 1]. Is she kidding? New Yorkers have spent thousands of dollars trying to find all the people who were exposed to Ebola by that doctor. He…

Approximately 3,500 people came to the KeyArena Oct. 23-26 for free health care [“At KeyArena, they’re coming by the hundreds for free health care,” Local News, Oct. 23]. Medical, vision or dental services were provided by volunteer medical professionals: doctors, nurses, dentists, optometrists, social workers, chiropractors, massage therapists, Naturopathics, many general support volunteers,…

Having been in a family practice for 43 years in a small King County community, I have witnessed and experienced the life and the death of patients and close friends first hand. I believe the “Death with Dignity” law that we have in the state of Washington is a great endeavor to provide compassion for…

Call me a coward, but you couldn’t pay me enough to travel to Africa to treat Ebola patients. And for that reason I think the people who do risk their lives to help others are heroes, every bit as much as the 9/11 first responders. They should be treated that way, not quarantined as pariahs. And,…

Dr. Meagan Kay’s comment about having “a lot of confidence in our health system” in controlling the Ebola virus should bring some comfort to health care workers [“Ready for Ebola? Local health workers say yes,” Local News, Oct. 11]. They and their patients can be reasonably protected if the correct universal precautions are…

It is far too soon to blame a “breach in protocol” on a nurse who cared for the unfortunate Ebola patient [“CDC: Protocol breach in treating Ebola patient,” Nation & World, Oct. 12]. More than likely, it is a systems problem — not the fault of an individual. Was there an adequate location to take off the…

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